Survival of the Fittest
by Colonel Metal
Summary: It's a Law of Nature. Those who are strong enough survive. Those who aren't strong enough are left behind. The only way I can prove my strength is to get out of this game. I never knew how the law would be tested in this game, but I will survive. Rated T for some Profanity, Wit, and some Graphic Violence. ([ON HIATUS] Thanks, freshman year.)


**I'd like to thank Hardyboy02301, Sailor Neo Phoenix, and Carbon839 for beta-reading the original chapter and providing feedback. Also, thanks to Stormbreaker99. I read BoB and it inspired me to write this. You guys should go read it as well. I hope you guys all enjoy it xD**

**Anyways, this is my first Chapter story, and Story, due to my indecisiveness. I hope that you guys enjoy it. If you don't mind, also, leave a Review, Fav, and Follow.**

**I'll stop with my little introduction so you can read it already :P**

**Enjoy xD**

**Disclaimer: I do not own SAO or anything affiliated with it. I only own the Original Characters I make.**

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©_Metal Mirrors_

**Survival of the Fittest: Chapter 1**

_The One who Survived_

**November 6, 2022**

**Ryogoku Station, Tokyo**

**11:58 A.M.**

Hello there ladies and gents, I'm Tsume Agarachi, and we're broadcasting live from Ryogoku Station, where mountains of people waddle at 0.5 kilometers per hour (make that 0.3 miles for you Americans there). Screw it. One, I'm not a news anchor. Two, I'm just a 15-year-old trying to get home in time for when SAO publicly open their servers at 1:00. Three, at the rate these people are moving, I may never be able to play SAO, ever. My train leaves at 12:00, so I had about two minutes to get to my train because there were no other trains until 12:45, and that was just way too risky. In front of me stood a crowd of people who were very possibly slower than a waddle of penguins.

Yeah, it's not like I was a beta tester or anything, but still, who wouldn't wanna play SAO? I mean, come on, it's a freaking VRMMORPG (for all you noobs out there, that's Virtual Reality Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game, that's pretty much the reason it's an acronym). Either way, not playing SAO when you own one of the 10,000 hard copies of the game is proportional to breaking into Kayaba Akihiko's office, beating him up, and leaving. It's an insult, and a big one at that.

Anyways, while I wander around the station like a fool, let me tell you some things about myself. My name is Tsume Agarachi, and I really, really love kebabs. Kebabs aside, I'm your average awkward, silent kid who's had his ass kicked by the whole world millions of times. My mother died shortly after giving birth to me, and my father turned towards alcohol to get over her loss. For the first five years of my life, he taught me how to speak Japanese and English, and taught me about basic technology. For my fifth birthday, I got a phone, and my dad taught me how to use technology, but that day, he was also diagnosed with brain cancer, due to his heavy drinking, and that was the last time he was ever there for me. The day after my birthday, I came home from school, covered in bruises and my dad told me to come to the attic. I was told that it was all my fault that mom died. He told me that he'd wished I'd never been born. Later that night, I had to cry myself to sleep, my back stamped with belt impressions. Ever since then, I've learned everything vicariously through the eyes of Google and YouTube and the Internet. For the next four years, he beat me, because he felt that I should be punished for mom's death. Life sucked. Life hurt.

At age 9, I started doing chores for neighbors and families of some of my friends. That was all I could do to earn money at the time, and all my dad ever did was sit there, drink, and laugh randomly. The only thing he ever did besides drinking was drinking or sleeping. I also started attending a Martial Arts Dojo and the kids at school weren't able to beat me up anymore, nor my father, which resulted in me having more friends. I started being more social with my friends I already had, as I was still somewhat awkward, and every opportunity I got, I went over to a friend's house. Their families felt pity for me, and had gone shopping for me, knowing my situation at home. I hated when people pitied me, it was a really crappy feeling, but what could I ever do for myself? I basically ran back and forth between my shitty biological _'family'_,

By age 11, I had reached the rank of First Kyu (first degree brown belt) in Karate, and had started some basic styles and variations of Kung-Fu. At some point, during that age, I stole all my dad's belts, and anything he could use as a weapon and trashed it. He tried to beat me up with his fists, but I was good enough to hold off some most bullies at school by that age. Of course, when a problem leaves, eventually, another problem occurs. I arrived home after school one day, and found an eviction notice clinging to the front door. Not only that, but soon enough, my father had reached terminal, a point where a cancer patient's health reaches a much more critical level. I had to start working different jobs and shifts and stress just piled up, which resulted in me going to video games for relaxation. I started going to the dojo more often, and both helped relieve stress. It went on like that for four years. Now I'm 15, and the scars haven't faded. They never will. My back will always look like buzzsaws and hot rocks brushed over it. Once I'm old enough, I'll probably get a tattoo over the scars. The old man may soon be in a hospital, but I've given up on him. For the last ten years or so, he hasn't even acknowledged me, excluding attempts at abuse. Maybe I lied to you. A lot. I guess I'm not your average awkward, silent, abused kid. Nowhere near average.

Oh, and if you've wondered what I've been up to at the station, not much really. I basically just had to get up on a bench and jump over to a little open spot by a Chinese bakery. Right beside it, was a Japanese bakery as well. The owners were in a nutshell, archenemies. It was a metaphor for the competition between Japan and China, but much, _much_ more domesticated. If the Chinese bakery had free kabob samples, so did the Japanese bakery, and vice versa. Oh, yeah, um, remember when I said I love kebabs? Well, currently I hold in my left hand two free kabob samples, one from the Chinese bakery, other from the Japanese. I seriously wasn't kidding, it was more than just an example, but it really didn't delay me at all, surprisingly. I dashed wildly, noticing an opening between the crowd. The opening was between a Sumo wrestler guy holding up a sign, advertising for the Japanese bakery, and a three-person lame-o Dragon costume for the Chinese bakery. I enjoy metaphors. I really do.

11:59 and twenty-one seconds. Tunneling through the sumo wrestler and the dragon, I bit into each one of the kebabs._  
_

My taste buds spoke to me to discuss the flavors._Now we'll critique the kebabs. Japanese: the flavor contrasts very well with the soy sauce and the cooked carrots. Chinese: Dude, when you get a chance, go tell that Chinese bakery owner that he uses way too much Sriracha. No one's ever gonna eat something that spicy. And also, the baked crocodile meat on the skewer was a deal breaker. Anyways, we're gonna take the rest of the day off until you go get a snack or something. Bye._

I saw my train and sprinted towards it. On impulse, I glared at my watch, reading 11:59 and 57 seconds. _Shit._ I desperately bolted to reach the train. Yes, I did reach it, but the door closed already. It was electronically locked, and there were only about five people in the car, four were listening to some old anime theme songs that vibrated through the 'soundproof glass.'

12:00 P.M. and 3 seconds, the bullet train was rumbling. I bit my (Japanese) kebab and in my other hand was the SAO hard copy, which I tucked into my belt. I realized that I'd need two free hands… As painful as it was for me to part from my new buddy, Kabob-sama, I had to let go. I sniffled a little, and loosened my left hand. Both kebabs were dusted in dirt from the railroad tracks. When they hit the ground, I imagined a melodramatic, slow-motion _thud._

I whispered to myself. "Kebab-sama, you were the tastiest kabob I ever sunk my teeth into. I hope that you can have a good rest of your life. Screw you, Sriracha-sama, you're too freaking spicy. Kebab-sama, Rest In Pe–" I was abruptly interrupted by the bullet train trying to shake me off its flank. If an anime revolved around my life, at this moment, I would be one of those psycho chibi characters, freaking out. "HELP ME!" I knocked on the glass desperately. People standing by the tracks stared at me weird. A station officer saw me and yelled, "HEY, YOU! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU–" The train cut off his voice as it crawled through a tunnel, venturing deeper into subterranean Tokyo. I knocked the glass desperately, and a girl with really, really long hair disabled the electronic lock and slid it open. I would've made some sort of Rapnzel reference if there wasn't a 75% chance I could fall off the train. I was really desperate to get away from the outside, so I wouldn't fall off the side of the train, or get a sewer rat on my face, etc. Instantly, I crashed into her and scrambled to get back up on my knees. I scrambled again to get up, and apologized 5 times or so and thanked her. I extended my arm out to her, and she connected her hand with mine. I pulled her off the ground.

She smiled a little, and started giggling at me. "What were you even doing out there?"

It took me a while to realize that she had just asked me a question. I was too busy being thankful to the universe for getting me onto this train. That was definitely a first. I had a weird look on my face. I was sure of it. "Oh, um… well, I was in a hurry to get home. I don't know if you've heard about it, but SAO's opening its servers at 1:00 P.M. to the public, and if you don't make it in time, you don't get to play it." I pulled out my hard copy that was tucked into my belt.

"Yeah, I know, I was in the Beta. Oh, and I'm Shira. Shira Fujihara." she responded with a soft tone and a gentle smile. My eyelids twitched at hearing that name.

"I'm Tsume. Tsume Agarachi." Shira's eyes widened at my name.

"That's my mother's maiden name. Agarachi. Her full name is Rei Agarachi. It's not exactly a common name..." Both of our chins rested on our hands.

"My dad's name is Tatsuya Agarachi, so... Are we related?" My mouth slanted into a slope.

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After learning and conversing about our blood relation for a bit, I was almost at my stop.

"It's fine. I'm almost at my destination, so what's gonna be your In-game name? Mine will probably be 'Tsume'." I held up little air quotes for my username.

"I'll make mine 'Shira', and meet my by the spawn point. If I'm not there by 1:15, just go wherever, and I'll send you a friend request and message you, so we can meet up later. Nice meeting you, Tsume. Hopefully we can catch up later, in-game." She gave a radiant smile.

A robotic voice blabbered some unintelligible words, but I could somehow make it out. I stepped off the train, and it whooshed away. Shira waved bye. 12:15 P.M. and fourteen seconds.

Around 12:30, I made it home, and the old man was being a little louder and crazier than usual. I heard strange coughing sounds and cackles from the living. I ignored it anyways. He was always like that. I took my bag upstairs and tossed it into one of the corners of my tiny room. I popped some popcorn downstairs and brought it onto my desk. Today was a really hot day, and they make us wear long-sleeved school uniforms. I swear, almost everyone was sweating during class today. I took off my sweat-dotted uniform shirt, and rather than wearing khaki pants, I changed into some comfortable Nike shorts. When I checked the mirror to see if any scars were gone, they were still there. All of them. Seals of abuse stamped all over my back. I had scarlet hair that enshrouded my right eye, and it was loose, cut short in the back. My hazel eyes had small, golden flecks dotted around my pupil. I looked like an outcast or something. I decided for the millionth time that scars don't heal, and went over to my desk and pulled out a special gaming issue that was included in my hard copy. I directed the search bar on my computer to the Weekly Live MMO Stream, then inserted the SAO disk into the NerveGear console.

Now it's 12:57, and the Emcee continues to ecstatically squeals things about the SAO promo video. After listening to the stream a little, I shut down my computer, and boot up the NerveGear console. Before putting on the NerveGear, I flipped the light switch off, turned on the fan, and enabled the electronic lock. The NerveGear was on my head now. A visor extended down from the NerveGear helmet, with 12:59 at the top of the visor. From downstairs, I heard my dad screaming foul words, there was no turning back now, I would escape away to this dreamy world.

3 seconds left. I heard widening screams from downstairs, it sounded like a… seizure. Then, for the first time in years, he said my name. "Tsume!" A frail, drunken voice yelled out. It was too late to turn back now, regardless of the fact that for the first time in years, I actually cared about my father. I clicked a button, and with a weak voice and a heavy heart I uttered two simple words that would change my destiny. "Link Start!"

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